


Star Trek Voyager - Trapped

by repgreece



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:24:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7554742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/repgreece/pseuds/repgreece
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Voyager is trapped by an inexplicable magnetic force involving a neutron star and Borg technology. But help is at hand from Captain Major Phillips, the Vice Admiral of a starship from beyond the Galactic Barrier, and whose crew look uncanningly humanlike!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Precarious Place

Captain's log, stardate 52234.2. Long range scanners have detected substantial Borg activity ahead. Voyager has subsequently altered course to bypass the sector but is limited by the position of a neutron star.

Captain Kathryn Janeway stood on the bridge, a thoughtful hand poised at her chin.

"If we get any closer to this neutron star we are going to be sucked in faster than a Tachyon particle. Seven, is there any indication that the Borg are aware of our presence in this sector?"

"No indications have been detected as of yet captain however there is substantial interaction between Borg vessels in and around the sector. Such activity is…" Seven paused as if to find the precise words "… unusual considering our present location."

Kathryn's head swung around to Seven who was standing behind her. "Unusual?" she questioned.

Seven looked for a moment as if she were trying to soften the blow; she was well aware of the crew's tendency to succumb to unproductive bouts of anxiety as far as the collective were concerned. However, her scans were conclusive and the captain needed to be informed.

"Well… activity such as this is more akin to that found near the hive in Borg territory."

Seven concluded that she had given the captain enough information for her to comprehend the dangers that the situation presented.

Kathryn's eyes widened momentarily before she turned again and spoke, almost as if to herself.

"Hive-like activity. Hmm, and yet no indications that the Borg are so much as aware of our presence? Unlikely," she concluded. "What are they up to?" she said, staring out at the myriad of stars which stretched ahead of them, as if by looking hard enough she could find out. She abruptly shook her head and announced her decision,

"For now we maintain course. Keep us at a safe distance from the neutron star Tom; and Seven, I want a continual sensor sweep of the area. I want to know the minute their scanners detect us."

Kathryn left the bridge and strode towards the captain's ready room, needing time to collect her thoughts. She was swiftly followed by Chakotay who had some concerns of his own.

"Captain, a word," he said, chasing after her.

Kathryn would have liked a few minutes to herself before a confrontation with Chakotay. There was no room for uncertainties in discussions with him and as much as she valued his input, she needed clarity in her own mind before she faced him.

"Chakotay?" she questioned, passing through the doorway and moving behind her desk. In her mind it always acted as some kind of a barrier between the two of them and it reminded Chakotay of her status as captain.

"Have you considered the possibility of bypassing the star completely from the other side?"

Kathryn looked him straight in the eye. "I have considered it but it will take a considerable amount of time off our journey and scanners indicate that there is a dense nebula at the other side." She sighed suddenly and gave up on the tech talk; she couldn't help but be straight with Chakotay. "Whichever way we go there are dangers. Do we go into uncharted territory which could take light-years to pass through and which we can't even map through our scanners, or do we hold course and get out of this damned sector as fast as we can?"

"I have to tell you Kathryn that the crew are unsettled. There are rumours that the Borg are planning to occupy the whole of this sector, and the whole of the quadrant come to that!"

Kathryn sat down slowly in her seat in a controlled and calm manor. "All the more reason for us to find the quickest path back to the Alpha Quadrant Chakotay."

"That's if we make it there. Don't you think they are a little too close for comfort?" he countered.

Kathryn held up her hands. "And if we take a detour? That would only give them more time… do whatever it is they are doing! And how long do you think it would be before they caught up with us Chakotay?"

Chakotay wasn't to be put off. "Well then let's find out more of their plans. Either way, how can we defend ourselves by ignoring what is clearly happening out there?"

Kathryn suddenly lost patience and the weight of the responsibility made her defensive. "What would you have me do? Take on the whole Borg Collective single-handedly?"

"Not single-handedly," he snapped back. She always took all responsibility upon her own shoulders but they were all in this together! He took a moment and a deep breath to pull himself in line, "you have the support of the crew at your disposal don't forget."

Kathryn could foresee another heated moment between the two of them and took a second to calm her already tightly strung nerves. Chakotay was invaluable in his role as a go between, linking the crew and the captain, but it was at moments like these when Kathryn wondered if he fully understood the stresses of having to be the one to make a final decision on behalf of every crew member.

"And what did the crew have in mind?" she said slowly, in an attempt at quelling her frustrations and passing some of the responsibility over to him. She was willing to listen if he had a better solution.

"The crew are divided," he admitted. "Some are nervous about the latest Borg activity in this sector and want to know more, some want to avoid it."

"And you?" she put to him.

"We seem unprepared either way," he said suddenly, voicing his concerns. "Even if we get past this sector, how can we be sure that they won't pursue us further: even as far as the Beta quadrant and beyond."

It was the 'and beyond' that had bothered Kathryn more and more recently and she was sure that Chakotay had known this. They were in some ways in an ideal position to find out more about the Borg's plans for domination, however they were one starship among a whole battalion of Borg vessels, and possibly more. There was only so much she could do. The welfare of her crew was utmost in her mind and getting them safely back to the Alpha quadrant was her primary objective.

"Let's get home Chakotay before we take on the entire Borg Collective! With all the data we have collected I'm certain that we will have sufficient defence should the Borg or any other Delta quadrant species set their sights on the Alpha quadrant."

"I hope you're sure about that," he replied.

Kathryn wasn't sure, and she was even less sure moments later when a sudden jolt almost threw her out of her chair.

"Captain to the bridge," she said, tapping her combadge.

"We have lost warp drive captain," came the controlled voice of Tuvok.

"Impulse engines?" she asked.

"Ineffective," came the reply.

"Diagnosis?" she asked, with a little disbelief.

"We appear to caught in some kind of extreme magnetic force field emanating from the neutron star and another unconfirmed body."

Kathryn didn't like the sound of that. "Borg initiated?" she asked.

"Unclear captain."

Tuvock had the annoying habit of only supplying the most unspeculative information.

"Seven, have scanners detected any evidence of Borg intelligence?"

"Negative captain."

"Janeway to engineering, is there any way to get us through this 'magnetic field?"

B'Elanna answered a little apprehensively. "I've never seen anything like this captain; the warp core may as well be offline."

"Are we facing a breach?" she asked.

"No," came the reply. "The warp core is stable but utterly ineffective at present."

"Reverse thrusters Tom?" she asked.

"Useless." He confirmed the worst.

"So to all intents and purposes, we are trapped," Kathryn said to Chakotay, "a sitting target for anyone."


	2. From Bad To Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voyager is trapped by an inexplicable magnetic force involving a neutron star and Borg technology. But help is at hand from Captain Major Phillips, the Vice Admiral of a starship from beyond the Galactic Barrier, and whose crew look uncanningly humanlike!

Note: This chapter refers to 'Counterpoint,' season 5.

Voyager hung, suspended and trapped in the magnetic field.

Janeway rushed onto the bridge.

"Tuvok, send out a resonance pulse from the deflector to disrupt the field," she ordered, pacing the area behind the tactical station and keeping a wary eye on the viewscreen.

Tuvok carried out the orders but with little success. "Resonance pulses are ineffective at present Captain."

Janeway tapped her combadge. "B'Elanna, increase power to the main deflector."

"Yes captain," came the reply.

"Tuvok, try again."

Tuvok worked busily at his station before pausing and looking up.

"The deflector remains ineffective captain," he informed her, waiting for further instructions.

Janeway tapped her badge again. "B'Elanna, we need more power to the deflector. Any way you can help us out here?"

"I'm trying captain but the deflector is acting as a huge drain on the warp core and we are going to need enough power from that to get us out of here if we do break free, or we'll be pulled back into the field again," she reasoned.

Janeway turned to ops. "Harry, check on our supplies of sirillium and assist B'Elanna in increasing deflector shield efficiency. I'm sending Harry to you," she informed B'Elanna.

Janeway tried not to give into the rising panic she felt, considering their present predicament, as she took a seat in the captain's chair. It was one thing being trapped in a powerful magnetic force field, but to be trapped so close to a major Borg operation: now that was cause for concern.

"Do we know any more about this 'unconfirmed body?'" she asked the crew.

Chakotay had been reviewing the data. "Our scans have confirmed that it is some kind of huge Borg sphere, much larger than any other sphere we have encountered before."

"Seven, are you familiar with such spheres?" Janeway asked.

Seven looked up from her station. "Negative captain. My calculations indicate that the sphere is approximately 20km in diameter, compared to the size of an average sphere of 600 metres ."

The captain's eyes widened. "That is a considerable difference."

"Affirmative Captain, and that would account for the strength of the gravitational pull between the sphere and the neutron star."

"Is the sphere heading in our direction?" Janeway asked tentatively.

"Slowly," Tuvok confirmed, "but it is still a great distance from us. Long range scanners only picked it up due to its considerable size. I have to point out however," Tuvok went on, "that if it continues on its course, the magnetic field between the sphere and the neutron star will undoubtedly tear Voyager apart."

Kathryn could feel a headache developing. She put two fingers to her temple and tried to focus through the pain until a thought occurred to her and she dropped her hand suddenly.

"But the Borg don't want to 'tear us apart,' they want to assimilate us, which suggests to me that they still don't know we're here. Thank God for small mercies," she said to herself in a quieter voice. "But we need to get out of here, and fast. B'Elanna, how are you progressing with the deflector?" she said into her combadge. B'Elanna's reply however was cut off by Tuvok's announcement,

"Captain, we may have a more imminent problem; there are three vessels approaching the stern."

Things were going from bad to worse!

"Can you identify them?" Janeway asked.

"Weapon signatures indicate that they are Devore warships," Tuvok confirmed.

"Devore?" The captain turned to Tuvok with surprise. "This isn't Devore territory."

"True. Nonetheless there are indeed three Devore warships fast approaching."

Facts were without question Tuvok's speciality, however what the captain needed at that point was an explaination.

"This is really turning out to be a bad day," she said, shifting in her chair. "Shields Tuvok and hail them," she ordered.

"They are responding," he informed her.

"On screen."

The intimidating face of a Devore officer appeared in front of them.

"Captain Kathryn Janeway," the officer began smugly, as if he had caught them out, "We have intelligence reports that your vessel aided and abetted the escape of our Brenari detainees…"

Janeway took a breath to reply but was cut short.

"..and futhermore," the officer continued in an accusatory tone, leaning forward in his seat and appearing larger and even more threatening on the screen, "we have detected more than 130 telepaths on your ship," he finished, pointing a finger at her.

She frowned and turned breifly to Tuvok in a moment of uncertainty before answering him. She laughed, at a pretense at confidence, "More than 130? That's ridiculous; that accounts for almost our entire crew!"

"Precisely. Telepaths will not be tollerated and since you passed through Devore space harbouring such a large number, drop your shields and surrender to the Devore. Your vessel will be impounded and your crew sent to relocation centres," he announced.

The captain smiled but she was far from happy. "Such an attractive offer," she commented sarcastically. "Commander, we have no quarrel with the Devore and, as you can see, we are travelling in the opposite direction of Devore space. As for the 130 telepaths you claim that we have on board, are you suggesting that I have deposited," she said, waving her hands in the air as if to intimate that she had no clue as to where, "my entire crew to take on board your 130 telepaths?"

"You were able to conceal a significant number of Brenari detainees and our intelligence is conclusive. Drop your sheilds," he repeated.

"Captain, they are firing weapons," Tuvok informed her.

"Off screen," she called out.

Voyager was subjected to a series of heavy jolts.

"Return fire," she announced.

"Innaffective captain, the ships have outmanuvoured us," Tuvok came back.

'Evasive manouvers' was the first command that came into Janeway's mind; how ironic! She almost felt like laughing… almost. She was uncomfortably aware that Voyager's manouvrable capabilities were… well, nonexistant at present.

"Shields are at seventy percent," came as a stark reminder of their vulnerability. There was little they could do but sit out the barrage until their shields failed. Janeway had to come up with something: and fast!

Another series of jolts hit the ship as circuitry failed around them.

"Shields at fifty percent."

Think Kathryn, think! But the pain in her head was getting stronger.

"Thirty percent shields captain," Tuvok confirmed.

Voyager impounded? The crew in relocation centres? What kind of an option was that?

"Twenty percent captain."

What was this dammed pain in her head?

"The shields are failing," came the announcement, which just cut through the excruciating sound in Janeway's head as the pain threatened to engulf her and she held her head in agony.


	3. The Doctor's Findings.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voyager is trapped by an inexplicable magnetic force involving a neutron star and Borg technology. But help is at hand from Captain Major Phillips, the Vice Admiral of a starship from beyond the Galactic Barrier, and whose crew look uncanningly humanlike!

An eerie silence stole over Voyager suddenly and the pain in Kathryn's head gradually subsided. She slowly looked up to see that the rest of the crew on the bridge had clearly also experienced the same pain and were now cautiously lifting their heads and looking about themselves in bewilderment.

"Tuvok, what happened to the Devore ships?" Janeway asked, swinging around to face him and feeling quite lightheaded with the movement.

"They are retreating captain."

They needed to assess the damage and re-establish security however Janeway was forced to take a moment to catch her breath. She grasped the arms of the chair and waited for a wave of nausea to pass.

"What was that?" Tom asked. "Was it just me or did anyone else feel as if their head was about to explode?" he said, rubbing his temples.

There were quiet mumblings and groans among the crew on the bridge before Tuvok spoke out.

"Captain, I believe that members of the crew have experienced some kind of anomaly which could have also been experienced by the Devore, accounting for their sudden retreat."

Janeway stood and glanced around the deck at the crew. "Is anyone here still experiencing pain?" she asked.

The general consensus was that they were not. The captain gave a satisfied nod. "We will get the doctor to check you all out and you can cover duties one by one but in the meantime, we need to assess damages and security. Tuvok, are we still protected by shields?"

"Negative captain, the shields have failed."

"Perform a magneton scan immediately; we don't know what caused the crew's temporary illness and if shields are down we need to scan for an alien presence."

Tuvok operated the sensor and checked the data.

"B'Elanna," Janeway spoke into her combadge, "How is voyager holding up?"

"We have structural integrity but there's a lot of repairs to be done down here," she replied. "Oh and captain, Harry and some of the others have experienced severe head pains. They seem to have passed now but I thought you should know."

"Yes, thank you B'Elanna. We have experienced the same up here. How are you feeling now?" Janeway asked. The safety of everyone on board was largely reliant on B'Elanna being able to work at her best to repair the ship, and they still needed to free Voyager from the magnetic field.

" I'm fine captain. I felt no pain," she informed Janeway.

Janeway looked surprised for a second but then wondered if B'Elanna was simply putting on a brave 'Klingon' face.

"Captain," Tuvok interrupted, "scans indicate no alien presence and I'd like to point out that I too experienced no pain."

Janeway slowly turned to Tuvok with a quizzical look. Tuvok looked momentarily intrigued with the situation himself.

"B'Elanna, begin work on repairs but I want to know the minute someone down there starts to experience any illness," Janeway stressed before turning to Seven. "Seven, assist B'Elanna in engineering," she ordered. "B'Elanna, I'm sending Seven to you and bear in mind that the deflector is still a priority. We could do with getting out of here pronto."

"Yes captain."

Janeway turned once more to Tuvok. "Take a team and report back on security."

Tuvok made haste to leave the bridge but Janeway halted him before he passed through the door.

"Oh and Tuvok, send a few of the crew to sickbay and get the doctor to perform a brain scan," she added.

Tuvok nodded and left.

After receiving reports on security, scans and repairs, Janeway left the bridge in Chakotay's hands and headed for sickbay to be informed about some interesting findings the doctor had uncovered during brain scans of the crew.

"Ah captain," the doctor smiled when Janeway entered sickbay, ushering her over to show her the results of the brain scans. "I think you'll find this quite fascinating."

Janeway smiled but was always somewhat agitated by the doctor's over enthusiasm for new findings when the health of her crew was causing her such anxiety. However, from past experience she found it easier in the long run to get information out of him more quickly by tolerating his overly pompous ramblings.

"I hope you haven't found anything that is going to cause me too much concern," she said, taking a look at the screen.

"I took the liberty of performing a brain scan immediately on one of my patients who was in sickbay when the anomaly occurred. Subsequent scans of crew have uncovered no abnormal brain activity but thanks to my quick thinking," he said proudly, "we may be able to come up with some answers."

Janeway nodded and stared impatiently at the screen, waiting for the doctor to get to the point and tell her about his findings.

"What am I looking at here?" she asked, gesturing to the screen.

The doctor pointed to the image displayed. "This shows the pattern of electrical activity in the brain of the patient when the pain had subsided."

The screen showed a series of flashing pulses of differing colours across what looked to be an image of the patient's brain.

"I've modified a series of these scans by applying a key of colours for the different brain wave frequencies as the patient experienced varying degrees of pain. In this way, I could compare the change in brain activity," he grinned at her, "An ingenious and completely unique method of analysis." The doctor looked smugly at Janeway and paused as if expecting some praise.

"Your forethought amazes me Doctor," she smiled. "And now the results?" she prompted him.

"Ah yes, these pulses," he traced a blue stream of intermittent light across the screen with one finger, from the back of the brain to the front, "show an increased level of beta waves, indicating that the patient was experiencing heightened feelings of anxiety and stress," he turned to glance at Janeway, "Quite normal considering the situation: Voyager trapped in a strong magnetic force field, an alien attack, fear of being taken prisoner or impending death..."

Janeway could do without the reminder at that point. "Yes, yes, okay I get the picture."

"Yes." The doctor cleared his throat and went on. "Notice the almost nonexistent level of these electrical waves," he said, pointing to a few white pulses which could just be seen among the blue. "These are alpha waves, occurring during times of peace and calm; and often during sleep when a person is dreaming."

"Okay, so this is normal then," Janeway sighed, wondering what colour waves were produced at times of frustration when other people failed to get to the point!

"Yes, but here comes the interesting bit," he went on, changing the image on the screen. "This is a scan of the brain at the time when the pain was at its strongest."

Janeway glanced at the screen and her head moved backwards at the shock of what she saw. Almost the entire image of the brain was flashing with white pulses of light. She frowned and turned to the doctor for an explanation.

"Alpha waves? But surely if the patient was in such pain there would be an abundance of beta waves, not alpha waves," she pointed out.

"The alpha waves undoubtedly shouldn't be there, and certainly not to that degree. But this does explain the patient's pain. Beta waves occurring in times of stress and danger normally inhibit the formation of calming alpha waves, but with an abnormal influx of alpha waves the two are quite literally battling inside the patient's head, causing much discomfort."

"So what could trigger such an influx of alpha waves?" Janeway pondered.

"I asked myself the same question," the doctor responded. "And this," he said, changing the image once more, "got me thinking."

Janeway was presented with another image of the brain which this time looked as if there were equal amounts of alpha and beta waves.

"What's this?" she asked, now quite intrigued.

"This shows the brain only seconds after the last image but it caught my eye simply because the patient was still experiencing pain, and the next series of scans show huge influxes of alpha waves, but this one doesn't." The doctor looked excited at his findings and the expression of growing interest on the captain's face. "Therefore, I examined the brainwaves more closely..." the captain felt sure that the doctor was on the verge of uncovering something remarkable, "... and was quite astounded by what I found..." the captain held her breath and the doctor turned to the screen, "...I found that..."

"Captain, the shields are restored to full efficiency," came the loud interruption from B'Elanna, making Janeway almost jump out of her skin.

She put a hand over her racing heart and answered her. "Thank you B'Elanna. Continue work on the main systems and the deflector." Janeway then turned back to the doctor. "You found that?" she prompted eagerly.

"I found that these few alpha waves are not the patient's," he finally informed her.

"Not the patient's?" she said with surprise.

"No, which explains the influx of alpha waves because they also open the mind to more... unusual brain functions," he explained.

Realisation lit up Janeway's face. "The Devore officer said that they had detected more than 130 telepaths on Voyager. Are we talking about an alien species trying to telepathically communicate with us?" she asked.

The doctor nodded excitedly. "I think we are."

Janeway looked around the room as if to find them. "Then where the devil are they?"


	4. The Hunch

Janeway's head was buzzing; she wasn't entirely sure whether it was a result of the earlier head pains or the fact that the doctor may well have uncovered something quite remarkable.

Maybe the telepaths were attempting to communicate from a nearby vessel.

"Janeway to Chakotay, have long range scanners picked up any alien vessels?" she enquired.

"Nothing has been detected," Chakotay replied.

"Anything to report from the bridge?" she asked.

"B'Elanna is still struggling with the deflector and the sphere is still on course, but apart from that, it's all quiet up here," he informed her.

Well at least there didn't seem to be any imminent threat of attack from alien ships, which was some kind of a relief, however they needed to free voyager from this magnetic field and Janeway wasn't entirely convinced that the deflector would be successful even if B'Elanna could increase its efficiency.

"How long do we have, Chakotay, before the sphere gets close enough to affect Voyager's structural integrity?"

"If the sphere holds its course, at present speed, we have calculated that we have approximately twenty two hours," he replied.

So they appeared to have at least some time to figure out how to break free. Nevertheless, Janeway was aware that they needed a backup plan, but for now she was intrigued by the possibility that some invisible alien species seemed to be attempting to contact them. Could they be trying to help?

"Join me in sickbay, Chakotay," she said, staring at the image of the brain scan on the screen in front of her.

"On my way," he answered.

"Janeway to Tuvok, report to sickbay," she ordered.

"Acknowledged," came the reply.

Janeway briefed Tuvok and Chakotay on the doctor's findings.

"Tuvok, have you any theories as to how these telepaths could be on Voyager without us knowing about it?" Janeway asked.

"It is illogical to assume that an alien species could board Voyager without being detected in any shape or form by internal scanners," he stated.

As always, Tuvok made complete sense, but nothing about this situation made much sense so far and Janeway felt that they needed to think beyond the obvious if they were going to figure out this anomaly. She also had a hunch that figuring it out just might provide them with a much needed backup plan. Okay, so it was just a hunch, but how many times had voyager managed to escape the jaws of death on a hunch?

"I thought you might say that Tuvok," she replied, "but humour me for a moment; what about 'invisible' beings, forces of nature that could steal onto a ship somehow and..." Janeway took one look at Tuvok's face and realised that he wasn't on her wavelength at all. "Not logical, right?" she sighed.

"That is correct captain. Any type of life form, be it visible or not, would create some kind of flux in electrical energy that would be detected by the sensors. There is no evidence of alien life forms on voyager," he concluded.

The doctor cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. "I beg to differ with you Lieutenant," he said, gesturing to the screen, "my scans show quite clearly that there was another life form on board."

Janeway turned from the doctor to Tuvok. "He makes a valid point. Could it be that the aliens exist only in the minds of the people who were affected by the anomaly?"

Tuvok rose an eyebrow as if considering her hypothesis, although he still had some reservations.

Chakotay had been taking in all the speculation and now it was his turn to throw doubt on the situation.

"Captain, have you considered that this life form could be a threat to Voyager and all the more reason why we should concentrate our efforts on getting out of here," he put to her.

Janeway bristled at the way that Chakotay seemed to be suggesting that escaping the force field wasn't paramount in her mind. She could tell that this 'hunch' of hers was something she was going to have to figure out more herself before any more discussion with her crew. She reasoned, however, that it was understandable they had doubts.

"And that is what we are doing Chakotay," she said calmly but firmly. "Liaise with Seven and see if she can come up with an alternative to the deflector if it turns out that it is insufficient to free us from the force field," she ordered.

Chakotay gave a curt nod, and left sickbay.

Janeway turned to Tuvok. "Tuvok, keep me updated on both long range and internal scans."

"Of course captain," he replied, following Chakotay.

"And doctor," she said finally before leaving sickbay, "continue your medical examinations of the crew and let me know if you come up with any more 'unusual' findings."

"Certainly captain," he smiled.

As she turned to leave sickbay she put a hand briefly to her weary head.

The doctor noticed this and called after her. "Captain, perhaps you should be next in line for a full medical examination. After all, you too experienced head pains and Voyager needs its captain to be in tip top shape!"

She waved a dismissive hand at him. "Later doctor."

Kathryn always said that!

Despite the fact that Janeway had dismissed the doctor's recommendation of a medical examination, she had to admit that her head still felt a little sore and she seemed somewhat drained of energy. But then, that wasn't so unusual for her at times like these. She didn't need a medical examination though, what she needed was a strong black coffee. Besides, she wanted a quick word with Neelix anyway, and so she headed for the mess-hall.

She found Neelix busily spooning out some concoction from a pan into rows of dishes on the countertop. He had appeared not to notice that the captain had entered the mess-hall, so intent was he on ensuring that each bowl was filled equally. Kathryn slowly and quietly approached the counter and bent her head so that it was on a level with Neelix's at the rim of the bowls. His eyes moved from the bowls upwards until they met the captain's. He jumped backwards and she laughed, standing upright again to survey the rows of dishes.

"You look like you've been busy, Neelix," she observed.

"Well," he began, placing the pan back on the stove and linking his hands in front of him, "I thought that the crew could do with a good meal inside them. I know that they are busy working on repairs but I thought that...well if Felax couldn't come to the mountain, the mountain could come to him," he said, pulling out a large tray and beginning to place the bowls onto it. "Never underestimate the importance of a nutritious meal," he reminded her.

"Very true," she agreed with amusement. Neelix took his duties very seriously, but in truth Janeway believed that it was more his support of the crew, than the food, in times like these that was so invaluable. He dipped behind the counter suddenly and appeared again with a steaming mug of strong black coffee.

She smiled again. "Neelix, what would we do without you?"

He looked a little embarrassed for a moment by her praise, and continued to arrange the dishes on the tray at an attempt at hiding it.

"What is that?" she asked, knowing that Neelix loved describing all the many culinary dishes he had invented to satisfy the crew's appetites.

"Fergoit goulash," he informed her. "A hearty meal that has plenty in it to keep the crew on their toes. And I've whipped up a batch of felada onion crisps as an added extra," he winked.

"Those always go down a treat," she smiled.

"And for you," he said, dipping below the counter again and appearing holding a plate which he placed in front of her, "I took the liberty of baking a batch of kalavian cookies to go with your coffee." He held up a hand before she could speak, "I know it's useless trying to get you to eat anything more substantial at times like these, but I've added an extra couple of spoonfuls of feeterik sugar into the recipe which should give you an added energy boost," he explained.

She picked up a cookie and took a bite. Neelix waited for the verdict.

"I feel more energetic already," she grinned.

Neelix looked delighted. "Of course, there is still a helping of triple chocolate weeki fruit sundae with warm fettran sauce in the refrigerator if I can tempt you," he put to her.

Kathryn smiled but held up a hand in front of the biscuits. "These are just what I need for now, thank you, Neelix."

He nodded and busied himself again. Kathryn watched his reaction and reconsidered.

"I tell you what, Neelix," she began. He lifted his head with a hopeful expression. "When we are out of this force field..." Kathryn had every intention that it would be 'when' and not 'if', "how about you dish up two portions of that triple chocolate weeki fruit sundae and join me for a celebratory feast?" she smiled.

Neelix's face lit up like a Christmas tree and he nodded. "We'll do that," he agreed, feeling quite touched. He smiled and went back to his duties.

"Neelix," she began again, "I was hoping that you could help me out with something."

"Of course. If I can help in any way," he said with surprise. 

"When you are serving the crew with your goulash, could you find out which of the crew experienced head pains during the Devore attack?" she asked. "But be discreet," she added.

"Oh yes, of course," he replied, feeling that it was a big responsibility that she had bestowed upon him. "I'll make a record and report back to you."

"Thank you, Neelix."

"Well," he said, picking up the huge tray, "time to feed the crew. There's more coffee down there if you need it," he said, making to leave the mess-hall.

"Thank you, I'm sure I will," she said as he disappeared through the door.

Janeway was sure that she would need more coffee as she suddenly felt the strains of the last few hours take their toll and weariness threatened overcome her. She took a gulp of her coffee and turned to gaze out of the window at the constellations beyond. Her eyes began to glaze over as she stared out at the distant lights, and random thoughts entered her head.

The white pulses are Alpha waves... quite remarkable... I think you'll be fascinated with this... At times of peace and calm... or during sleep... more 'unusual' brain functions.

And before long, her head was on the counter, and she was sleeping.


End file.
